HIMSS Analytics inked a four-year agreement with health IT vendorQuadraMed for the use of its web-enabled HIMSS Analytics Database.

IBM today introduced its new Virtualization Manager dashboard, a systemthat can assist companies in monitoring and managing virtual andphysical computing resources from a common portal, including IBM andnon-IBM systems and software.

Primary care doctors in the United States are less likely than those inseveral other countries to have adopted health IT, according to therecent Commonwealth Fund 2006 International Health Policy Survey.

In June, Agfa-Gevaert NV announced plans to split into three independent businesses: HealthCare, Graphics and Materials. Health Imaging News spoke with Bob Pryor, president, Agfa HealthCareAmericas, to get his take on the current health IT market, and what therecent streamlining efforts mean for Agfa HealthCare’s North Americandivisions.

Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) can improve efficiency, reduce medical errors, and save hospitals money. So why have less than 2 percent of American hospitals implemented it?

Introducing new ways to improve efficiency and increaseinteroperability are top goals for health information technologyvendors at RSNA 2006. Products that incorporate more features and toolsthan ever into one system will share the health IT limelight. Fromsurgical planning tools to virtual worklists and pre-fetch solutions tosoftware that allows users more functionality from one workstation thanever, health IT vendors are poised to streamline users’ workflow.

It’s November, so it must be RSNA. To me, the terms are synonymous —and the cold weather and predictions of snow in the Windy City tell meit’s time for radiology’s annual pilgrimage to Chicago.

The Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) activity seems to be at the same stage as DICOM was several years ago. As a user, there is, first, the challenge to understand all the profiles and, second, how to prioritize among them.